Feeding Cows with Astroturf

"Astroturfing" is one of my favorite neologisms. It's right up there with "truthiness" from Mr. Colbert. Astroturfing a is professional public relations campaign which appears to be a grassroots type movement. Since Astroturf is the mother of all artificial turf, the term "Astroturfing" seems appropriate. The Internet makes it particularly easy to set up a Web site for an organization which appears to be a grassroots campaign.

This weekend, The New York Times News Service exposed the latest "Astroturfing" attempt. The controversy concerns a synthetic bovine growth hormone known as recombinant bovine somatotropin, rBST or rBGH. The stuff is marketed by Monsanto under the name Posilac. It seems that some consumers desire and some food chains, e.g. Whole Foods and Wal-Mart, are selling milk which is labeled as coming from cows not injected with the hormone. A counteroffensive was launched by a group called AFACT, American Farmers for the Advancement and Conservation of Technology. The NYT article points out that AFACT, while it does include dairy farmers, "was organized in part by Monsanto." It also receives help from the same marketing firm which "received a contract in 2006 to help with the Posilac campaign." Monsanto says that while they "did provide financial support to AFACT... the group is led by farmers, not Monsanto." The group claims labeling of milk as having an "absence" of something can be "misleading" to consumers. The Monsanto dairy company president thinks that the "fundamental issue" is the "dairy farmer's ability to choose the best technology." He was quoted in the article as saying, "Dairy farmer choice to use a variety of FDA-approved technologies is a at risk."

I don't blame the farmer for seeking higher yields, particularly since our "Corn as Fuel" program has driven up the cost of feed, (and therefore milk and corn-fed meat,) but it is the consumers' right to choose whether they want milk which is produced by cows which are not injected with the hormone. It seems some companies are all for "The Market" deciding until "The Market" decides against them. Monsanto like the recording industry is trying to preserve a market which is quickly moving away from them. "The Market" is working fine, and dairy farmers still have the "choice" to inject their cows with rBST, but the consumers also have a the "choice" to "pay a premium" and buy milk labeled as coming from cows which are not injected with rBST. Welcome to "democratic capitalism."